The nexus of renewable energy-agriculture-environment in BRICS

The present paper is the first attempt to investigate the nexus of per capita renewable energy, agriculture, and CO2 emissions, together with output and non-renewable energy, in a 1992-2013 sample of BRIGS countries. Panel unit root tests indicate that all the time series data are stationary in first difference, and panel co-integration tests prove the existence of co-integration relationship between the variables. The three panel long-run elasticities demonstrate that both per capita output and renewable energy play negative roles in emissions, while per capita non-renewable energy and agriculture exert positive effects on emissions. Moreover, there is a feedback hypothetical relationship of CO2 emissions and non-renewable energy, unidirectional relationships from renewable energy to both emissions and non-renewable energy, from agricultural value added to output, and from output to non-renewable energy in the short-run. In the long-run, causalities are found from other variables to emissions, and to non-renewable energy use. Therefore, BRIGS countries' policymakers should encourage the consumption of renewable energy and strengthen the management of agriculture to halt global warming.